Edenborough Evans: Bringing You Christmas Traditions From Around The Globe November 19 2015

At Edenborough Evans, we absolutely love Christmas time. And while there is nothing better than waking up to champagne, chocolate, turkey and presents, we are always curious about what’s happening during this time of year from around the globe.

Here’s just a few Christmas traditions from some great places around the world that you might want to make your own – why not this year?!

Throughout the Christmas period, the typical mode of transport to mass in Venezuela is not a car, a bus, a bike or even by foot, it’s roller skates! The streets of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, are closed to motor traffic prior to 8am from December 16th to December 24th each year; allowing everyone to safely skate to “Misa de Aguinaldo” (early morning mass) on time.

Japan of 1974 saw KFC alongside the Colonel with his eleven secret herbs and spices, launch what was a very successful advertising campaign, “Kurisumasu ni wa kentakkii!” or “Kentucky for Christmas!” It all began when western travellers couldn’t find a turkey for Christmas day, subsequently opting for fried chicken from the fast food giant. KFC capitalised on the lack of turkey in Japan and launched its first Christmas meal, consisting of fried chicken and wine. Today, orders from their extensive Christmas menu must be placed over a month in advance! Even Japan Airlines now serves KFC on flights throughout the Christmas period.

One of the more recent Japanese advertisements for KFC at Christmas:

Barely 2.3% of the Indian population are Christian, however due to over 1 billion people calling India home, this deceivingly small figure equates to more than 25 million people! The nation’s tropical wet and dry climate coupled with persistently warm temperatures, prevents the growing of traditional Christmas trees. A banana or mango tree decorated with tinsel and baubles typically replaces the customary fir or pine tree.

On Christmas day, the Czech Republic likes to prepare its single ladies for the coming year. According to Czech superstition, if an unmarried woman is to stand facing away from the front door of a house and throw a shoe over her shoulder, the direction of the shoe will demonstrate her fate. If the shoe lands with its heel towards the door, she will be single another year; however, if the front of the shoe points toward the door, she should begin preparing for impending wedded bliss!

A superstition coming from Norway calls for all brooms and similar cleaning implements to be hidden on Christmas Eve. The driving motivation behind this is fear, as it is thought that evil spirits and witches will rise from their graves, enter the houses of unsuspecting Norwegians, steal their brooms, and fly throughout the nights sky causing havoc until sunrise. In order to deter these witches, men would fire a shotgun outside their house.

Slovakians don’t always have a tidy Christmas dinner! Tradition dictates that the most senior person of the household, stereo-typically the father, will take a spoonful of “Loksa” and throw it at the ceiling. Similar to bread pudding, the sticky Loksa will adhere to the ceiling, the more that sticks, the luckier the family is said to be in the coming year!

Not only do South Africans feast on deep-fried caterpillars of the Emperor Moth on Christmas day, they also have their own take on ‘naughty or nice’. South African children are told the story of Danny, a boy who ate all the cookies his grandmother had left out for Santa; but in her rage, she killed Danny. The boy is now said to haunt homes and terrify children at Christmas.

Thousands of volunteers at Canada Post have been playing Santa for over thirty years! Letters to Santa should be addressed as follows:

Santa Claus

North Pole, H0H 0H0

CANADA

The vast majority of letters sent to the above address are opened and replied to by the volunteers. They have been known to respond letters from all around the world in many different languages, including braille!

We hope that some of these you might just want to make to make your own this year. They have certainly got us thinking! Bring on Christmas.